3 ms·

That's a very odd way to consider how whales live. They form social groups, communicate with each other, navigate and migrate, avoid and fight predators, and so

That's a very odd way to consider how whales live. They form social groups, communicate with each other, navigate and migrate, avoid and fight predators, and so on.

Scoundreller 4y ago
So does a squirrel, a chicken, a cat, dog… ants, bees… Not a lot of grams needed for that.
- speed_spread 4y ago
  You can add humans to that list, yet we consider ourselves much more sophisticated than these animals you mention. We recognize in whales some of the traits that we believe make us different. Having a longer lifespan might explain the higher nurture/nature ratio. Cats and dogs don't live long enough to develop complex background stories that require abstract language to be transmitted to their children.
  - e9 4y ago
    Life span has nothing to do with that. Life span is all about economies of scale of the organism. The larger the organism the more efficient it is. The heart rate is slower etc. There are exceptions in animal kingdom, of course. For detailed scientific overview on this specific topic, I highly recommend this book: The Scale by Geoffrey West
    - speed_spread 4y ago
      I wasn't suggesting that the longer lifespan was a result of higher cognitive functions but rather the opposite. Living longer enables individuals to travel further and face a greater variety of situations which require more sophisticated methods of analysis and transmission to be transmitted to others in the herd / offspring.
      - e9 4y ago
        You are right
- austinjp 4y ago
  That's somewhat of a departure from the point. (a) Whales have big brains, whales use them for complex behaviour. (b) Brain size is relatively unrelated to complex behaviour. Kinda "a dog has four legs, a dog uses its legs to run" vs "number of legs unrelated to running ability, my kitchen table isn't running anywhere".

3 ms·

That's a very odd way to consider how whales live. They form social groups, communicate with each other, navigate and migrate, avoid and fight predators, and so

by austinjp 4y ago

That's a very odd way to consider how whales live. They form social groups, communicate with each other, navigate and migrate, avoid and fight predators, and so on.

Scoundreller 4y ago
So does a squirrel, a chicken, a cat, dog… ants, bees… Not a lot of grams needed for that.
- speed_spread 4y ago
  You can add humans to that list, yet we consider ourselves much more sophisticated than these animals you mention. We recognize in whales some of the traits that we believe make us different. Having a longer lifespan might explain the higher nurture/nature ratio. Cats and dogs don't live long enough to develop complex background stories that require abstract language to be transmitted to their children.
  - e9 4y ago
    Life span has nothing to do with that. Life span is all about economies of scale of the organism. The larger the organism the more efficient it is. The heart rate is slower etc. There are exceptions in animal kingdom, of course. For detailed scientific overview on this specific topic, I highly recommend this book: The Scale by Geoffrey West
    - speed_spread 4y ago
      I wasn't suggesting that the longer lifespan was a result of higher cognitive functions but rather the opposite. Living longer enables individuals to travel further and face a greater variety of situations which require more sophisticated methods of analysis and transmission to be transmitted to others in the herd / offspring.
      - e9 4y ago
        You are right
- austinjp 4y ago
  That's somewhat of a departure from the point. (a) Whales have big brains, whales use them for complex behaviour. (b) Brain size is relatively unrelated to complex behaviour. Kinda "a dog has four legs, a dog uses its legs to run" vs "number of legs unrelated to running ability, my kitchen table isn't running anywhere".